Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san – 02

Nothing new to report, but that’s a good thing: Master Teaser Takagi-san continues bringing the warmth, charm, and sweetness. It does so with a trio of new situations, starting with calligraphy class, in which Takagi and Nishikata agree to write “what they want from one another.”

Nishikata, believing this an opportunity to get Takagi to stop teasing him, first writes”restraint”, but she writes “status quo.” When he writes “kindness”, Takagi suddenly seems really kind, even though she didn’t see what he wrote.

Finally, he decides not to dance around it anymore, and simply writes “Don’t tease me,” then backs it up with direct spoken words as well. Takagi really enjoys teasing him, but she says she’ll “try her best” not to.

Of course, she wrote her calligraphy before making that promise: “You have ink on your face,” and she put it there while acting kind! Mind you, she kinda cheated by writing what was on him instead of what she wanted from him. Alas, Nishikata is too embarrassed to point that out.

After a brief interlude in which the three girls in Takagi and Nishikata’s class struggle to change to their short-sleeved uniforms on the same day, it’s back to the cute couple who have eyes only for one another, who are in English Translation class. (Hey! A school anime that actually depicts students inclass most of the time! AMAZING!)

Nishikata finally gets a relatively clever idea: it’s June 18th, and Takagi is student #18, so he tries to distract her so that when the teacher calls on her, she’ll be unprepared. The plan seems to succeed at first, with Takagi even betraying a half-moment of flustered-ness we’ve come to expect of Nishikata. But when called upon, she knows exactly what line to read.

Noticing Nishikata looking at her, Takagi turns the tables by saying she’s “always thinking” about Nishikata, and the teacher decides to add the month and the day to select Student #24…Nishikata. And yet, for all her teasing, you get the feeling she’s being honest about thinking about Nishikata a lot, just as he thinks about her.

Teasing Nishikata is Takagi’s way of expressing her interest in him, it’s just that he’s so wound up in the cycle of teasing, he either overlooks the underlying affection or suspects it as another layer of teasing. And it’s often both!

That inability to ever interpret Takagi correctly rears its head in the final segment, “Pool.” Nishikata can’t swim due to a bandaged hand, and to his shock, Takagi is also sitting it out. She correctly guesses that his hand was injured when he tried to pet a stray cat, so she asks him to guess why she’s not swimming.

When she holds her stomach, he remembers a classmate saying girls on their period don’t swim and experience abdominal pain. But he doesn’t want to say that, because it’s generally considered rude. Searching for another reason, he remembers another sage classmate telling him small-chested girls are self-conscious about their chest size.

This time, we get visualizations of how Nishikata thinks the interactions with Takagi will go after giving each answer. When he also remembers that periods are nothing to be ashamed of, he finally guesses that, which is wrong…and rude, says an apparently offended Takagi.

However, she immediately laughs afterwards, then slowly removes her shirt and shorts in front of Nishikata to reveal her school swimsuit. Turns out she only stayed out of the pool so she could tease Takagi. She says hopefully next time they’ll be able to swim together. Takagi is dubious as always, but I don’t doubt Takagi’s sincerity in the slightest. So till then, Nishikata, avoid stray cats!